Hey Everyone! Many of you will know the Question Of the Week that has been running for around 4 years now! Each week I ask you to think about a question and then you post what your response to it. This has been an amazing adventure and we have covered SO many topics with you all posting amazing responses each and every week!
As Season 8 draws to a close I am planning the topic for Season 9, and this time I would like to ask you, the ecoTrain community, what you would like. I want to get your input as I am torn between two topics, both very different and of course both very interesting.
I will do my best to present both topics for you , and then you can comment below which one you prefer. After a few days I will try to see if there is a clear winner and then i will choose that topic for the QOTW Season 9!
TOPIC 1: TECHNOLOGY
This is such an important topic and there is so much to ask and say about technology. In this modern era, 2021 we live in what was always called the future.. and Here we are! Does 2021 look anything like the predictions that were made back in the 1900's? Well, not really to be honest! Nevertheless technology has changed the way we live and interact in more ways than i can count.. and we have barely begun. It's fair to say that technology is about to leapfrog this entire planet into a new dimension very soon, and there is a LOT to think about and ask.
We have things like artificial intelligence, neural networks and quantum computing about to dawn on us, and i wonder if many of us really understand the implications. Robots are replacing human jobs at a fast pace, and that also is only set to increase. Smartphones and mobile computing is now ubiquitous and available to almost everyone on the planet, and those who dont yet have access soon will! There is so much powerful technology about to happen and yet very very little discussion about it. I think this is an important thing to keep aware of, and that is why i am proposing this as a theme for Season 9.
TOPIC 2: SPIRITUALITY
The world is in crisis. In fact we have many different crisis's happening at the same time.. so many its hard to keep up.. Ones that spring to mind are of course a health crisis in the form of corona, but also generally with a huge percentage of our population having diabetes, heart condition and cancer. We also have a huge climate crisis, with the whole world at threat from climate change, sea level rising, species extinction and more. We are also really suffering from a mental health crisis, with more horrific news stories adorning our screens than I've ever seen before. We also are dealing with a major moral and ethical crisis in many forms including that of our governments and leaders who are more corrupted than we have seen before. It is a lot to think about, and that is why i believe that Spirituality is a topic that is sorely needed.
If there was one thing that i believe can help us rise above the fear and tensions brought about by so many different problems i believe it is Spirituality.
Spirituality gives us strength to cope. It gives us a higher perspective that we can perhaps see things very differently than they may appear. Spirituality gives us faith and hope as well as vision to know what is truth. Today it is very good to see that Spirituality is becoming a word that is used more and more, and is starting to be accepted as an important part of a healthy life.. even in mainstream! Words like Yoga and Meditation are becoming normal and even the most unreligious person may have started to practice them.
I would like to say that i see Spirituality as totally separate from religion, and that if we choose to focus on Spirituality, it would not be about this god or that god, or about any religion in particular. As a wise man once said:
" There is only one caste... the caste of humanity. There is only one religion... the religion of love. There is only one language... the language of the heart."
SO! These are the two topics to choose from. I hope this gave you a good sense of things.. There are SO many questions that you can ask on each topic and I will of course be choosing questions that will challenge us, and really make us think!
Please let me know in the comments what you would prefer to focus on, and lets see what season 9 will hold!
Thank you! <3